Project MARS members serve in schools in several of our mountain counties, and they doubled down after Hurricane Helene. Though school was suspended, members served during recovery efforts, handing out supplies, sorting donated clothes, and doing other much-appreciated tasks. Big Brothers and Big Sisters themselves, they also brought comfort and reassurance to many of the young children they mentor and serve.
Every month we publish a “Great Story,” a story that a Project MARS member wrote to describe their experiences with the kids in the classroom. Here, in their own words, are a few samples of their time with those children post-disaster and of serving their communities as its residents picked up the pieces of their lives.
“In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, everyone in our school community grapples daily with this ‘new normal,’” wrote member Claire Klima. “For one set of girls, they missed out on the first-ever season of our new volleyball club. Their club started the week of the storm, and they only got one practice in before everything happened.”
One day at her charter school’s after-school program, Claire noticed a group of the girls passing a volleyball back and forth.
“I realized (the school) had a whole batch of equipment, including a brand-new net, sitting in our basement untouched,” she said. “I asked the previously appointed coach if we could set it up for them, and she kindly helped me do just that! The girls were so excited, and other kids in the after-school group joined in for a fun game. Even the staff got on the court! It was a wonderful way to give those kids a small piece of normal back.”
Audrey Crowl, a Project MARS school engagement coordinator, saw firsthand what having a Big can mean for a Little, and vice versa. A warmth of a relationship between a High School Big and her first-grade Little that she had made prior to Helene provided both of them with a sense of support and comfort as their families dealt with the storm.
“The Little had been feeling unsettled since the hurricane, which had disrupted her sense of normalcy at home and school,” Audrey wrote. “Her Big had also been affected but was eager to support someone younger during this time. The Big found renewed purpose in being able to offer stability and fun to her Little, and the Little was thrilled to have someone who would listen, laugh, and play with her. When they met, I could see how much this connection meant to each of them.”
Riley Johnson was volunteering at a donation center, sorting piles of clothes, when “out of the corner of my eye, I caught a flash of movement,” she wrote. A little boy from the school where she serves was pushing a shopping cart with his mother. “When he noticed me, he screwed up his face and asked what I was doing there.”
Much of what she’d been doing – sorting clothes and helping out – seemed “slow and far removed from the feeling that I was a part of rebuilding what had been lost,” she said. But she was happy to be part of clearing the path to make the rebuilding process easier for those affected, like this little boy from her school.
“‘Just trying to help,’” she told him.
Cam Ormond helped by showing up at an assisted living facility for the elderly. “This was well needed for the folks that live there,” he said, because difficult times can be as disturbing to older people as they can to children. “Showing up and helping (the residents) was very good,” he said. “They wanted normalcy as well. Overall, I learned that community and human contact are something that we rely on when disasters strike.”
“This was a time where service was extremely needed and appreciated,” said Dejah Gallagher, a Project MARS member who served at a Swannanoa school that was receiving hot meals for students and community residents. “This disaster honestly opened my eyes, emphasizing the purpose of service. And here I was an AmeriCorps member in the position to get things done – and things definitely got done.”
